Conventional rotary embossing systems have been employed to emboss article webs, and the embossed webs have been employed to produce personal care absorbent articles. Typical embossing systems have included rotary embossing rolls and cooperating, rotary anvil rolls. The embossing rolls have been configured to provide an array of embossing dies to provide embossing lines arranged with selected shapes. Other conventional embossing systems have also included bonding components for providing construction bonds. In particular systems, the construction bonds have been located proximate the regions of article web where the article web has been embossed. Typically, the operating speed of the embossing system has been limited by the available embossing force and by the amount of dwell time needed to reliably form the desired embossments. With conventional systems, the embossing operation has typically been performed prior to a cutting operation that separates the article web into individual articles.
To maintain the integrity of the article web, the operating speed of conventional embossing systems has been limited. High-speed embossing operations have required high levels of embossing force, and the high embossing force has caused an undesired cutting or breaking of one or more component layers of the article web. In addition, the high speed embossing operation has made it difficult to provide sufficient levels of dwell time during which the embossing can be conducted. The low dwell time has excessively reduced the reliability of the embossing operation. As a result, there has been a continued need for a high speed embossing method and apparatus that can more efficiently and more reliably form desired embossments while substantially avoiding any excessive cutting or breakage of the article web.